Greektown(Casino) ejects winning video poker players

Associated Press ^

[RCW2001]

Greektown Casino has ejected about 30 video poker players in recent weeks because they have become unprofitable customers, casino officials said.

The players'winnings _ combined with cash-back incentives and freebies _ are costing the casino, according to Greektown officials, who said the casino would have to consider broader cost-cutting measures if it didn't bar some gamblers.

[joesnuffy]

"We love winners,

...........As long as they're us

[PetroniDE]

What next, only stupid democrats allowed to gamble?

[Moosilauke]

We love winners...

but only when they're winning at a rival casino.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"We love winners...

Very easy for the house to say when the odds are stacked in favor of the house and they are confident that there will be few winners.

I've always said, that if you can gamble and be a consistent winner 51% or 52% of the time, quit your job and move to Las Vegas. You will do very well.

[general_re]

I've always said, that if you can gamble and be a consistent winner 51% or 52% of the time, quit your job and move to Las Vegas. You will do very well.

Except that, statistically speaking, you can't possibly do that in the casino. The only game that you have a reasonable shot with, given a good strategy and conservative play, is blackjack. And even that's only an advantage in your favor on the order of 1-2%.

Everything else in there is a guaranteed loser, given enough time - the only question is how long it will take the house to clean you out ;)

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Except that, statistically speaking, you can't possibly do that in the casino.

That's why I said if you could do it...move there and go pro. Because if you can...you are much better/luckier than most. Or you are cheating. In which case, don't move there.

[Jack Black]

yeah but I wonder about some of these video poker games. There are so many weird variations and double up opportunities it may just be that someone has found a winning strategy. After all who designs these games? It took 50 years to get blackjack "safe" for casinos and they had to do things like go to six decks to make it so.

[general_re]

Gotcha. Well, as for the cheating, I don't condone such things, but you might find this article interesting... ;)

[general_re]

Funny, I would tend to avoid those things like the plague for exactly the opposite reason - on the blackjack table, you have some assurance that everything's on the level. As for the video poker...well, who the hell knows what's going on inside those things? They sure as heck aren't going to open up the code for me to take a look at it, and I'm sure as heck not going to plop any money into those things on the theory that casino operators are nice, trustworthy guys ;)

[pbear8]

Everything else in there is a guaranteed loser, given enough time

This is true, but the odds didn't catch up with me last week in Las Vegas. I played slots and won over a thousand dollars. Paid for the trip.

[general_re]

The trick is walking away while you're ahead, and not getting greedy. But in the long run, it doesn't matter - odds are, they'll get it back from you on your next trip or two ;)

[2banana]

I played slots and won over a thousand dollars. Paid for the trip

This is the IRS internet site monitoring software. We have detected that you have some money and we want our cut. Send at least 50% in right now and we will not take your house. Please do not reply directly to this email as it was automatically sent.

[jiggyboy]

Break-even or nearly break-even video poker is no secret or holy grail -- every hand is dealt from a fresh deck, there's only one real "play", and the payoffs are known. It is well within the abilities of a sharp computer programmer to hammer out a program that can tell you the optimal strategy for any given situation, and to further determine what the payoff would be for so-called "long-term" (millions of hands -- more than you would play in a lifetime) play.

The casinos fiddle with blackjack by jiggling the rules, number of decks, and so on. It's easy enough to jiggle video poker simply by varying the pay scale posted on the machine (as you mentioned), as well as coming up with exotic games such as the one where each card is dealt from its own deck, et al.

Banning video poker players is just stupid. A video poker is helplessly at the whim of "the law of large numbers" -- the only big payoff, a Royal Flush, comes up (or is built) roughly once in 40,000 hands -- roughly 100 hours of video poker play if you can bang out a hand every nine seconds), and there's nothing he can do about it. And at that point, it's more than likely that the big payoff just gets him back to even anyway.

[Mr. Bird]

The only game that you have a reasonable shot with, given a good strategy and conservative play, is blackjack.

I thought Baccarat was the closest casinos got to 50/50. That said, Roulette provides you with "true" odds, essentially eliminating the house advantage for those players disciplined enough to stick with it.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Oh, bulls***. Whatever gaming commission is in charge needs to slam them hard. For them to sit and claim that "high payout machines" become more available if you bar winners is the height of gaming profiteering.

[general_re]

Don't know much about baccarat - never looked into it, so I can't really speak to the odds. As for roulette, on a double-zero wheel, the house advantage is at least 5.26%, no matter what your strategy is. Play long enough, and that's what they'll take from you, as surely as the sun rises and sets ;)

There are a few single-zero wheels in the US - they're more common in Europe - but even there, the house advantage is always and immutably 2.7%. And the single-zero wheels usually have high minimum bet, to discourage folks from sitting too long.

[discostu]

You don't need to be a computer programmer to know how to do well on video poker, it's real simple. Just have to remember there's no bluffing, you're just playing odds and trying to maximize your hand with the draw portion. If your hand has "something" dump everthing but that something and the highest "junk" card. If your hand has nothing dump everything but your highest two junk cards. This stragey will clean up with almost any video/ computer poker, and will empty your wallet playing against people.

[Alberta's Child]

In a related story, there is a group of young guys in New York who were arrested for hacking into the Off-Track Betting system and entering a series of bets after the Breeders' Cup races were over. They "won" a jackpot of several million dollars for picking the winners in six races in a row.

I found out yesterday that this story is going to have a very interesting conclusion, and it has nothing to do with the characters who were arrested. Because there was actually no six-race winner, the jackpot will be divided among all of the people who picked five consecutive races.

The problem is that many winners at the horse races in New York use people called "Ten Percenters" to collect their winnings. These are people who hang around at racetracks and OTB locations and sign off on the winning tickets in exchange for 10% of the prize money, thereby allowing the actual winner to avoid reporting the winnings to the IRS.

There is a distinct possibility that some people who used these "Tem Percenters" will not be able to collect on this five-race Breeders' Cup jackpot because they did not sign off on their winnings. And some guy who thought he was getting 10% of $20,000 in prize money by filling out one of those betting slips is actually going to be contacted by the New York State racing commission and informed that he is one of a small group of people who will split a $5 million jackpot.

Maybe there is justice in this world after all.

[Mr. Bird]

Excuse my brain fart. I MEANT Craps, of course, not roulette. For those betting on individual numbers, they receive true odds. You are correct on Roulette's odds. I need some sleep....